Ignoring Ino
by Rai Lockhart
Summary: After two years of being away, Ino comes back to Konoha to attend college. Despite her popularity before leaving, no one seems to notice her anymore. Except one guy... College AU! Sliceoflife I might write a good ending eventually, but done for now.
1. Oreintation

**A/N: During my time in which fan fiction hated me, I started another story. I am the essence of terrible, no? So, here it is! This is a Naruto AU, written in first person. It's a college AU, by the way.****  
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**Discalimer: I don't own Naruto, just the idea behind my story.**

Taking a deep breath, I headed up the steps of a huge school. There were countless others surrounding me, charging up the stairs as well. I hardly recognized people that I had known for years. They walked past, talking in their own groups. I felt so... out of place among people I used to fit in so well with.

It was not an unusual feeling for me. Not anymore, at least. I, Yamanaka Ino, have gotten used to being ignored.

It is not a pleasant feeling, for sure. But it is one that stops bothering you after a while.

I have been home the whole summer. I think I got two calls from Sakura asking me to go to the movies or something, one from Hinata, and a few from Shikamaru, asking for my dad or something. Not really the best conversations in the world, let me tell you. I guess I deserved it. I haven't seen them in so long. But I thought they'd at least try to make contact.

For the past two years, I had been studying abroad. At first, I tried to write my friends as much as possible. But soon, the letters from them stopped coming. So my letters stopped going out, too. I didn't mind - At the time. I was having far too much fun in another country.

But now I wish I had kept sending those letters. Maybe I wouldn't be walking up these seemingly never ending stone steps by myself right now. I sighed, and walked up the steps with less vigor than before. I saw a familiar pink head pass without a word. I wanted to say something, but couldn't. It had been so long without real contact... That would have just been weird. And anyway, she was trying to catch up with someone. I glanced up to see who my ex-best friend was charging toward. It was none other than...

Nara Shikamaru. My eyes widened, and in my moment of surprise, I tripped on the stairs. I closed my eyes expecting to feel the hard stone beneath. But instead, I felt a strong pair of arms catch me.

I opened my eyes when I felt I was on my feet again to see my savior. Rock Lee stood next to me, looking me over to make sure I wasn't hurt.

"You should be more careful, Yamanaka-san. You could have been seriously hurt." I blinked a few times, trying to figure out what had happened. This... was Lee? He was so much better looking than I remember. Much more muscular, too. A lot can change in two years, I guess.

"Yeah, I guess I should. Thank you, Lee-san." I rubbed my head a bit. What was Lee doing here?

"Are you sure you're okay?" He looked at me. I could tell he wanted to be somewhere else, but his chivalry wouldn't let him leave a girl in distress.

"I'm fine. I'm just wondering why you're here. Aren't you in the sophomore class?" After I finished my sentence, I wished I hadn't spoken. What if he had been held back? I might have insulted him!

He chuckled. "I'm helping out with Freshmen Orientation. Speaking of which, I'm running late. Nice to see you again, Yamanaka-san." I muttered an incoherent response at his fast moving back. The first person to acknowledge my existence today was someone like Lee, who only talked to me because he had to save my sorry ass from getting hurt.

I couldn't remember much about Lee. He was always a bit weird in high school. No one really talked to him, aside from Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. In my sophomore year, he had started to look better, but still no good enough for any real attention. Sakura had started being nice to him, and we used to eat lunch with him sometimes. But now, I would be lucky to be seen with him.

Yep. A lot can change in two years.

I continued my trek up the stairs. "Do these things ever end?" I muttered to myself.

Right as the last word got out of my mouth, I reached the top. Oh, the irony. If I had know that was going to happen, I'd have said that about 2,000 steps ago! I made my way into the auditorium. I was bigger than I had originally thought it would be. I looked around for anyone I might know.

Naruto was with Sasuke, and they were talking to some red head girl. She couldn't keep her eyes off the washboard abs or the muscles of the blonde, or the smart and sexy face of the raven haired boy. Wait... Naruto had washboard abs? There was no way I was going to even try talking to them. Someone I had once ridiculed for being short and stupid was now towering and buff.

Damn.

I should have learned to keep my mouth shut back then.

I searched for somewhere else to go. I didn't want to stand there for too long. People might start to stare. That was one thing to avoid. People's eyes. You scan the heads fast, look for anyone you might know with a seat nearby. If there aren't any, walk down the isle like you're going to sit with someone so no one starts to feel pity and 'makes' room for you in their group. If you sit in the middle, near a few people, it seems as though you know people. And then no one really notices you. So that's what I did. I moved quickly toward the center, smile on my face. No one paid me any mind. It didn't bother me. The less people that noticed me, the better. I took a seat near a group of strange looking kids between the middle of the auditorium and the back of it. I pretended to be interested in what they were saying. So interested, in fact, that I didn't notice someone coming to sit next to me.

"Hey, Ino. Long time no see." Startled, I turned to see an old friend of mine, Akimichi Choji. Okay, I lied when I said I didn't have any real contact. Choji and I spent a lot of the summer together, because Shikamaru didn't have time for either of us. I now knew that he was occupied with Sakura the whole summer.

"Choji! It's so nice to see a face that actually remembers who I am." This made him laugh. I had forgotten that Choji was attending the same university as I was. I felt terrible for forgetting, as he was the only real friend I had at this school. "Man, this place is such a downer. I've seen everyone I used to know, and all they do is walk past me."

"Yeah, I know how that feels." I winced. Choji's words stung a bit. Back in high school, I had completely ignored him. Maybe a hi or two and some friendly advice on his weight, but nothing serious. He wasn't as popular as I was, so I didn't bother with him. I really was a rude kid. Two years away did me a bit of good, I suppose. I guess I'd take being nice and ignored over popular and mean. Choji was better than a lot of friends I used to have.

"So, who are you rooming with?" He asked, hoping for a change of subject, which I was more than glad to comply with. I took out my registration packet. I had completely forgotten to look at my roommate. It was suggested we call each other, but I never got a call. And since we didn't move in until after orientation, I didn't feel the urge to know.

"Hmm..." The name caught my eye. My eyes widened. "Sakura..?"

"Ah, you got Sakura! I heard that she requested for someone, I bet it was you. Shikamaru and I are rooming together." I still couldn't believe it. What if I was not who she requested, and we didn't get along at all anymore? Ino feared that this would be the case.

"I'm glad that you--" My sentence was cut off by the loud noise coming from the speakers.

"All freshman, please take your seats and silence yourselves. Orientation is about to start." Choji and I exchanged glances, and turned our attention back to the woman at the podium. She had black hair, and looked pretty young.

"Please, give a round of applause for our Dean!" Everyone clapped, but it soon died. A woman, who looked like she was in her mid-twenties, stepped on stage. She couldn't have been that young, but man, she looked that young. And I had never seen anyone so well endowed.

It must have been plastic surgery.

"Welcome to Konoha University! As the Dean of this prestigious school, I am glad you all are here. Hopefully, this will be a good year for all of us." She stopped, and looked around the room, as if to pick out the troublemakers and the good students. She continued talking, but I quickly zoned out. I had been here for maybe an hour, and I was already bored out of my mind. I was barely listening, until she said something about Sophomore Mentors. I quickly turned my attention back to our speaker, trying to figure out what she said.

"For those of you who have zoned out, I will repeat myself. We have a tradition here at Konoha University to randomly assign sophomores to our freshman. These sophomores will act as mentors to you all. There is one mentor for every freshman. Some of them might be juniors, so don't freak out and think your mentor has failed." She laughed, which got a nice laugh going in the auditorium. I didn't see what was so funny. Apparently, Choji did.

"Choji! Why are you laughing?" I whispered.

"I don't know, but everyone else is. So I figured I should." Nyaa, that was just like Choji to have no idea what was going on.

"To find your mentor, please proceed to the tables along the wall. Once you have received the paper, go back to your seats! I expect you to move in an orderly manner! You are college students, after all." But her words were wasted. Almost everyone got up, and ran over to the tables.

About half an hour later, Choji and I departed from the crowd.

"Nyah, Choji! Who is your mentor?" He looked down at the paper, and frowned.

"Some kid named Neji Hyuuga. I think I remember him from high school. The one with the long hair."

"Ah! I remember him! He was cute. Lucky!"

"Ino... I'm a guy. A straight guy."

"Oh, right..." I gave him one of my signature 'Oops!' faces. I rubbed the back of my head, and grinned sheepishly.

"So, Ino. Who did you get?"

For the first time since receiving the card, I glanced down at it. First thing I saw was my own name, my room number, my roommate, a few other things about me, and then I saw it. The name of my mentor.

"Aw, shit." I wanted to go slam my head into the wall. Hard. Repeatedly. I mean really, what are the odds?

"Ino...? Do I have to look for myself?"

I mean, sure, he's not bad. He's actually pretty cute, now! But still. Why. Him.

"Alright, Ino, I'm taking it." Choji snatched the paper out of my hand. I still had my eyes closed.

But our history just didn't go well. I mean, he stalked me for a while. He was basically the reason I wanted to leave so quickly! And that creepy hair... I shuddered at the thought of it.

"What's so bad about him, Ino?"

Oh nothing! If you don't count the fact the man is a complete, utter, undeniable JERK!

"He always seemed nice enough."

I thought so, too! But really! Ventriloquism ain't that great! And he's so... creepy!

"Kankuro would make a great mentor!" I wanted to slap him. It was a good thing that he didn't know the guy had stalked me, or I would have.

"If anyone wants to exchange, come to the end table right now with your slip!" I grabbed my slip from Choji's hand and took off for the table. I wasn't the only one. Good. At least there would be people to exchange with.

I saw Sakura running up there, too. I wondered who she had. But right then, I was not going to stop her and ask.

"Yamanaka Ino: You wish to exchange your mentor?" The woman took my slip of paper.

"Yes, please! Anyone else!"

"If you say so. We have another mentor that just opened up. Here you go." She had marked out Kankuro's name and replaced it with another one.

I glanced down at the name as I broke away from the crowd.

Choji stopped me from running into a wall. "Who'd ya get this time?"

"Someone better, I guess." I handed him the paper with the name written in pen.

"If you say so. I personally always though he was weird."

So did I. My mentor was...

**A/N: Don't you just love the way I ended this one off? Anyway, I know that college's don't do mentor programs. But I wanted to do one so bad. So I made up my own way of college. (Yeah, that makes no sense.) Hopefully this one will do well. I had a ton of fun writing it, and I want incentive to write the next chapter. Read and review, please! n.n**

**Rai Lockhart**


	2. Restaurant

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! I didn't want to rush anything and make it sound crappy. But now I've got an adorable ending all planned out. I's really, really adorable to me, anyway.**

** Disclaimer: Yeah, don't own anything but the idea.**

I flopped down on the bed. All of my things for my dorm had been brought up, and I had unpacked. I've been living in this dorm for three weeks now, and it still doesn't feel anything remotely close to home.

"So why don't you like him again?"

"I told you Ino, he just makes me uncomfortable." Sakura sighed, flopping down on the bed on the opposite side of the room. "It's... awkward. I feel sorry for you, though."

"He doesn't seem that bad, really." I shrugged. He didn't make me uncomfortable at all. Well, the first few days were a little awkward. But after that, he and I started to get along better. "He's better than Kankuro, though. Not to be rude to your friend, or anything. But man, that guy creeps me out so much."

"It's not that he creeps me out. It's just that he used to follow me around like a lost puppy. I mean, we broke up! I'm not his mom, or anything!"

It turns out, after I left, Sakura was the main focus of attention. Sakura was getting the best grades, she was the valedictorian, she was in most of the clubs, every teacher loved her, everyone loved her...

She almost made everyone else obsolete. (A/N: Not any reference to how I feel about Sakura in Shippuden, no. )

"Lucky. You got to go out with Sasuke!"

"Yeah, he wasn't what I expected him to be. Shikamaru's much better."

I couldn't help but twitch. I hadn't thought of Shikamaru as boyfriend material, more like he's-my-slave material. Which, until I left, he basically was. Now, he was the hot, smart guy that went out with the hot, smart girl. He completely ignored me.

I have a class with him. So far, after three weeks, I've gotten two sentences. "Hey, it's Ino," and "You're Sakura's roommate?"

Stimulating conversation right there.

"Well, I dated Shikamaru before it was cool," I stated lamely. She laughed.

"Well, I dated Lee before he was your mentor," She was making fun of me. Again. She rolled over on her stomach and looked at me. "So, tell me why you came back if you loved it over in Kumo so much? I mean, you've come back and you've been pretty much ignored." It was my turn to let out a deep sigh.

"My father wanted me to attend Konoha University because for generations, Yamanaka's have been coming here. And he didn't want to break tradition..." My father really just needed to let me be. I even had scholarships to Kumo University, and I could have gone into my preferred course, Konoha Studies. I always rocked at that class in high school. They don't even have a study of Kumo literature here! "So, here I am. I'm not even popular anymore. I don't think half of our freshman class remembers me."

"Sure they do!" Sakura was lying, I could tell. Her eyes had gotten brighter and wider, her smile a lot bigger, and her voice was way too cheery. I had known this girl for a long time, and yet she still felt like she could trick me.

Right before I got to tell her off, my pocket started to vibrate.

Well, not my pocket. But you know what I mean.

I reached into the right pocked of my blue jeans, and pulled out a purple cellphone. I stared at it for a second, wondering who was calling me and why I hadn't gotten a new phone when I ended my obsession with purple. I flipped the phone open, and saw a chibi picture of Chouji dancing.

I pressed the green button. "Talk to me."

"Ino, Sakura should be getting a call from Shikamaru about now." I glanced over; he was right. "They're going to some chick flick, and I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out. It's dead boring over here with or without the Shogi king, but I don't want to be here by myself."

"Sure, that sounds better then another night of writing fanfictions."

"You write fanfictions?"

"No... I didn't say that." I made a shifty eyed movement, and thought about ideas for stories. "I didn't say that at all..."

"Right. Well, anyway. Meet you in front of the dorm in twenty minutes? I know how long it takes you to get ready and all..." Chouji drifted off in mid-sentence, something he did a lot when talking to me. If it were someone other than Chouji, I'd get the impression that they liked me. But this was Chouji, and he was never really one to like girls. Or state them verbally to me, at any rate.

"Thanks! Bye!" Whipping my hair out of the ponytail it was in, I started brushing it. It's scary how time just flies by. 10 minutes were past and I just barely got done with my hair!

Sakura was still on the phone with Shikamaru. I merely rolled my eyes, and proceded to apply the small amounts of make-up I had to wear to make myself radiate my natural beauty.

My phone rang again. I answered it with a, "Hello?"

"Yamanaka-san, it is Rock Lee. Neji, Tenten and I were going somewhere, and we decided to take our mentoriees with us. Meet us down at the front of your dorm in five minutes?"

It's a good think I was already getting ready for my outing with Chouji. "Right. Oh, wait..."

"Oh, and could you please tell Akimichi-san? Neji refuses to use my youthful cell phone, and both he and Tenten forgot theirs."

"Uh, sure. That's good. See you in five."

"Bye." The conversation ended with a click from his end, and I immediatley dialed Chouji.

"Hey, Chouji. Lee called, and he wanted to know if you and I are willing to come with Neji, Tenten and him for something. It's part of their duties as mentors, after all."

"Uh, yeah," he sounded slightly put out, but I couldn't figure out why. None of my business, I suppose.

"Okay! Meet me in front of the dorm building in three!" I pressed the red button, and finished applying the last bit of my make-up.

Sakura was _still_ talking to Shikamaru. Does she ever shut up?

I waved goodbye, and she ignored me. Woo.

When I arrived outside, everyone else was already there. "Hey..."

A group of five looked up at me. Tenten, Neji, and Lee were all wearing Konoha U shirts. Chouji was looking nice, and Hinata was looking nervous.

"Sorry I look so bleh right now... Lots of phone calls."

Chouji opened his mouth, but Lee smiled and quickly stated, "You look very lovely, Yamanaka-san."

I blushed a bit. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Chouji looking a little peeved at Lee. "Thanks, Lee. And you can just call me Ino; It's much shorter." I giggled. He smiled back.

"Ino it is, then." So our group of six set out to do whatever we do with our mentors.

As it turns out, Lee, Neji and Tenten wanted to take us to this cute restaurant off campus. None of us freshman had been there, so Tenten had decided to take us as a group.

"Hey, I'm going to the... ladies room. I'll meet you guys at the table, okay?" I told Hinata. She nodded, and went of toward where the hostess was leading the rest of them. A few minutes of later, I exited the bathroom, and found my way to the table.

I quickly examined the seating arrangement. There was an empty seat next to Chouji and one next to Lee. I started for the seat next to Chouji, but Lee smiled, and stood up. He then proceeded to pull out a chair.

"Here you go, Ino." With another slight smile, I quickly made my way to that side of the table.

We ordered out food and drinks, and Lee and I started talking. It's really amazing how much we have in common.

I mean, he likes anime, too. And he writes fan fictions. I told him that I'd check his out if he checked mine out and reviewed. He told me he definitely would. I glanced over at Chouji.

He was talking with Tenten, and he looked very interested with what she was saying. What she didn't realize, though, is that he wasn't really paying attention. I could tell by the way his eyes were focused over her head, a technique that used to work on me. She was so oblivious to what he was doing.

"And if you'd pay attention, Chouji, I'm sure you would be more entertaining," she stated, and frowned. Huh, I guess Tenten wasn't as ditzy as I had thought most of Sakura's sophomore friends were...

Anyway, back to the much more interesting conversation of Lee and I.

"I mean, it's amazing how Haruhi doesn't even notice that her companions are the things she's been looking for all along," Lee said.

"I know! And I think it is so ironic how she goes on about how much she hates ordinary people, and yet she falls in love with Kyon."

"Man, I love that show."

"Yeah, Haruhi is definitely on of my favorites."

Well, what can I say. When you've got something as great as anime to talk about, why talk about anything else? Our food eventually came, but Lee and I kept talking while easting. Not at the same time, though. That's just nasty.

Our conversation changed to other things, and I couldn't help but notice how cute Lee looked.

He had such a mature looking face, with shaggy, short black hair and a toothy, crooked white smile. His almost black eyes were so expressive, and his jaw was so... manly.

It was then that I realized what I was thinking to myself. I mean, come on. This was Lee; crazy, weird, fuzzy brow Lee.

"Ino?"

But he was just so cute now... Why had Sakura dumped him again? Oh yeah... he was clingy.

"Ino...?"

I like clingy.

"INO!"

My attention jumped to the over-sized college student sitting on the opposite side of the table from me. "Yeah, Chouji...?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for a while... we're ready to leave."

"Oh, sorry," I quickly apologized.

"It's okay, Ino. I know how it feels to become deep in thought and not realize it," Lee helped me out of my seat, like a gentleman.

It felt nice for someone to treat me like I was a lady, not just an invisible wall that they sometimes run into.

Twenty minutes later, Chouji and I were walking up the stairs to my floor.

"So, you and Lee have a lot in common, right?" Chouji questioned.

"Yeah, it's amazing. I never knew there was someone who had some many of my same interests." I was still dazzled by Lee. "He's just so cool. He's like no other guy I've ever met." Chemistry, maybe? Could he be the _one_?

Ha, I was thinking too much into this. Lee and I were never going to get married. That's just be weird.

"Right..." Chouji said. "Well, I've got to get back to the dorm. See you later, Ino." I waved goodbye, and walked into the door that led to the floor I was on.

It was about 9:30 when I got back. Sakura wasn't here. I changed into my pajama's, and laid down on my bed.

I couldn't get Lee out of my head. He really was a cutie.

"Ms. Ino Rock," I mused, thinking the name sounded funny. If we ever did get married, I'd rather stay with Yamanaka.

Lee Yamanaka.

It was... cute.

I slowly drifted off to sleep, for the first time since coming looking forward to doing something wit someone in the future.

Maybe I wouldn't be ignored anymore.

Fat chance of that one.

**A/N: Review, please? I'm a review-a-holic, and I like to read them. You could definitely say I'm addicted to them. I hope you liked it, and I can't wait to finish writing chapter 3! ADORABLE PLOT IN MY HEAD! **


	3. Sweatshirt Hunting

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. I've had, as they say, writers block with this story. I've finally decided how I'm going to end this (I hope) so the updates will hopefully get faster. If my writers block goes away. Anyway, I've been toying around with some other story ideas, and that's not helped with writing this one, either. So I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry for it being so short and so late. I can't promise faster updates, though. I know, I'm pathetic.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto. Sorry, but I'm no manga artist.**

**Okay, this is in CHOJI'S POV. So it will (hopefully) be different from Ino's POV. Like a little more thoughtful and less shallow, maybe? I dunno. Hope you like the world from Choji's POV.**

There we were, sitting at the campus coffee house. The object of my affections was sitting across from me, sipping away while reading a book. This was the first time we had hung out in weeks; to me, it felt like years. That damn Lee had been occupying all of her time.

The weather outside was cooling. The usual hot temperatures were fading for the winter months. Many of the students walking by donned university sweatshirts in a multitude of colors, ranging from aqua to yellow. Not that anyone was to fond of seeing a bright cyan sweatshirt, but some people had them.

According to the phone call I received from Ino this afternoon, we were going sweatshirt hunting.

I asked her why she didn't have any sweatshirts or winter coats. Her response was simple. She only had sweatshirts from Kumogakure. And "That just wouldn't be right, ya know? I'm in Konoha now." I accepted it as a plausible Ino answer, and agreed.

So here we are, not looking for a sweatshirt while sitting in a coffee house. Not a lot of conversation, either.

"Chouji, I don't understand why we have to read these stupid poetry books," Ino complained as she furrowed her brow, trying to understand the poets delicate choice of words.

"It's to better understand the literary culture around us. Poetry's not hard, nor is it stupid. It's a more artistic way of expressing oneself than, lets say, writing a novel or a short story." If you couldn't tell, I like poetry.

"Lee writes short stories. They're so good..." Ino responded in a dreamy tone, apparently not taking in a word I said.

I frowned. "Ino, how about we go to the campus store and look at those sweatshirts you said you needed."

Her blond head snapped out of it's daze, and she looked at me with slightly confused eyes. "Huh? Sweat- Oh, yeah." She nodded as she closed her 'evil' poetry book. Slowly, we both rose, and left the coffee shop.

The chilly wind hit us full blast as the door swung shut. Ino was wearing a pathetic excuse for a long sleeve shirt, and looked as if she was about to freeze. Almost immediatley, she started rubbing her arms for warmth, trying to get to the student store as fast as possible. I felt sorry for her, looking like a lost, frozen puppy.

I slipped off my coat and handed it to her, insisting that I would not be cold.

"Chouji, you really don't have to... I'm not _that_ cold."

But after I insisted, yet again, she took it. I could tell from the relief in her beautiful, crystal blue eyes that she was grateful for it. And that look made it all worth it.

Soon, we both entered into the University Store. There were so many people in here, it was scary. Isn't there like a legal limit for stuff like this? It was a fire hazard, for sure. Ino pushed her way through the crowds, heading for the clothing section.

I followed behind her.

We stopped as Ino examined the different patterns and designs. She grabbed a yellow sweatshirt. Holding it up to her body, she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

It was an adorable face.

She threw it away, back on the shelf. Yellow, Ino said, was not her color. I quickly agreed.

She went through many other colors, looking for just the perfect one. I could tell she was having a hard time. I thought they all looked perfect.

She disagreed with me.

Finally, Ino's slender fingers landed on a purple Konoha sweatshirt. She grabbed an extra small.

It still looked baggy on her small frame. She held it up to her body, and modeled it for herself. I could tell from the look in her cerulian eyes that she had found the perfect Konoha University sweatshirt.

"It's perfect!" she exclaimed, hugging it close to her body.

"Didn't you grow out of purple, Ino?" I asked. Just this summer, she had been going on about how much she hated the color now.

Ino flashed a white toothed smile. "I did, but Lee says it looks good on me."

How I hate that Lee. Not for anything he's done, but he steals away all of Ino's affections. Something that I want.

"Well, it does," I said, and gave Ino a half-hearted smile.

She smiled brilliantly again.

And then, she surprised me.

She walked up, and kissed me. She backed up and looked me in the eye, and said, "I love you, Akimichi Choji."

Or at least, that's what I wanted to happen. In reality, she just hugged me.

"You're such a great friend, Choji. I'm so glad that we can hang out like this!"

A kiss it was not, but it still filled me with an abrupt warmth. I felt the supposed butterflies in my stomach, and I felt my face warm up.

I never wanted to end the friendly embrace. I wanted it to go on forever, for the moment to never end. I wanted so much from such a little gesture. I wanted it to move onto something more, like a kiss. I wanted Ino to realize her undying love for me. I wanted her to tell me we would never be apart. I wanted to spend my life with her. I wanted a little girl that looked exactly like her. I wanted to come home everyday and see her there.

But it would never happen. Ino backed away, and I let her go.

She was still beaming about the sweatshirt.

I was still wishing for more.

She made her way to the register to pay or her sweatshirt.

I stood still, hoping that if I stayed here long enough, I could somehow go back in time. But that could never happen.

Science has made sure of that.

But a few minutes of standing there, I knew that nothing was going to happen. So I went to the register where Ino was paying for her sweatshirt.

I decided to walk her back to her dorm with her. She blabbered on about things that didn't matter to me. I tried to listen, honest. But it was hard. My thoughts strayed to this summer, to her, to my feelings.

We had spent so much time together. We would talk a lot, and everything we went out to do things, we would just talk and have a great time. I felt myself becoming more and more attracted to the blond. I found myself making up things to tell her so I could talk to her. And I felt like, even if it was just a little bit, she liked me, too. I wanted to tell her how much I liked her.

With every passing moment, I fell more and more 'in love' with her. I found myself thinking of her, even when not with her. I found that I had day dreams of us, together... Kissing, married, hugging. I would think of her before I slept, and I would look forward to the next time I saw her with more excitement than I can ever remember having for anything else.

But life was not so kind to me. I felt that she was starting to like me. I wanted her to like me so badly.

"Choji? We're here..."

I blinked a few times. "Oh, yeah. I must have been thinking of something else again, sorry Ino."

"It's okay." She put her hand on the doorknob. I just stood there, waiting for something. "Um, I guess this is goodbye for now. Bye, Choji."

I nodded, knowing that she probably wanted me gone. So I just waved, and left.

I felt like such an idiot now. I had always wondered who she liked over the summer, but never wanted to find out. We never talked about it.

As I made my way back to my dorm, I felt slightly empty, and sad. Here I had been so infatuated with her that I didn't see the obvious. I didn't see that she was just being a good friend to me, and she didn't even like me. Or at least, not now.

I had been rubbing of on her, just a little bit. I can feel it. She was starting to see that I wasn't just an idiotic piece of fat. I was a real, thoughtful human.

As I placed a chubby hand on the doorknob to my dorm, I came to a single conclusion about Ino's sudden disinterest in me. It was not my fault, at all. I did not disgust her. I did not fall blindly in love with a girl who would never love me. No, the girl I loved, I had a chance with. But now, Ino's change can all be blamed on someone. There was a scapegoat for my losing battles in love, my struggles with my feelings. Being able to come to this conclusion about my love was like freedom for my soul.

Ino stopped liking me when we got into college.

So there's only one person that could have changed her feelings. One person to blame.

I blame Rock Lee.

**So hopefully you guys liked it. Remember to review! If it weren't for that last review by Lavan-the writer, I would have discontinued/deleted the story. I know, shameful xD So yah, please review. And, for your information, this chapter had a surprising lack of things to correct, something that astounds me. I always feel like I mess up on almost every word, but apparently not. Maybe I'm a better speller than I have led my self to believe. (I kin totilee speel coreectdlee. xD)  
**

**Just so you guys know, Choji's POV is only temporary. I wanted to get his feeling out in the open. He really, really likes Ino and blames Lee for her not showing any interest in him. I really liked the last line, for some reason. But anyway, hope you guys enjoyed. Sorry this chapter is shorter than the others, too. I still love ya! (Yet again, I should not be allowed to make authors notes when I'm tired. I have a bad habit of rambling on about the stupidest things.) Oh, and if you wondered how I'm describing Choji's feelings of unrequited love that he doesn't know if Ino likes him back or not, I'm going through the same thing. There's this guy that I've been hanging out with a lot this summer that I'm really starting to like- a lot. I found out a few weeks ago that he doesn't like the girl he's liked for a few years now. He just stopped really liking her this sumer, so keep your fingers crossed for me! If I ever get up enough courage to tell him, that is. I feel so giddy just thinking about him. Gawd, I'm a loser. I'm just going to stop now.**

**Rai Lockhart**


	4. The Breakup

A/N: Hello, everyone. Yes, I'm updating. I know, I know. You've taken too long, you'll say. I've lost interest, you'll say. I'm sorry. Over the summer, I didn't have time, and then my computer broke. That, coupled with school and writers block has really set me back a little bit. I've had to deal with a lot of drama surrounding me and my best friend (for those of you who remember, the guy I liked), so that's kept me from writing. And then I've had tons of homework, and lots of church stuff, and drama from other friends... It's been hectic. But now that I'm done with all of my excused, I hope you'll enjoy. Chaper Four, of Ignoring Ino, has been posted. Love ya!

I sighed, holding my warm coffee mug closer to my body for warmth.

The power in our dorm went out during a snowstorm, and it's been off all day. Every student was advised to stay in the dorm rooms. Of course, the administrators had to leave their rooms to come and tell us that.

We were all living on battery powered everything. Sakura made coffee from the maker, and then left to go to Shikamaru's room. I stayed in my room, mostly because I hate snow. Rain and I are perfectly fine, you know?

But snow? Nu-uh. Ew. Ain't happening.

So unless someone comes to me, I'm good drinking coffee and reading.

Man, I really hope someone comes to my rescue here. I've resorted to reading the university newspaper.

Almost as if someone could read my mind, a knock came from the door. I jumped up, praying that it was Lee. With every step it took to get to the door, his name repeated itself.

Lee.

Lee.

Lee.

Lee.

Lee.

LEE.

I pulled open the door, smile plastered on my face, dying to see the familiar green jacket and black hair. I could almost smell him, and for a second, thought I saw him standing there, looking back at me.

"Hey Ino," Choji said. "I didn't really feel comfortable sitting the dorm with Sakura and Shikamaru, and she said you'd be here. So I came up."

Thanks a lot, Sakura. "Yeah. I'm here." Stating the obvious, much?

Choji looked uncomfortable standing in the doorway, so I stepped aside to let him in. He stood there for a second, looking at me with a confused look on his face. I rolled my eyes, guessing that he didn't understand I was inviting him in. He could be so dense sometimes.

"That means, come in Choji. I need company." He let out a small 'Oh,' and came in. I went over to the couch, and motioned for him to come and sit down next to me. He shut the door, and came over.

"So, what have you been up to all day?" Choji asked, looking for a conversation starter.

"Reading." If he didn't believe me, all it took was one look at Sakura's disheveled bookcase to realize I wasn't lying. All of the books had gaps from one to the other, and there were books lying on the floor. I didn't have a huge bookcase like hers of my own; mine was a few shelves on my desk of books that I loved. I had asked her why she had taken so many books to college, and not just the ones she really liked.

Her response? "Ino, these are the books I really like. I left tons of them at home."

I believed her.

"Seems like you've been bored, then," Choji responded, trying to make it sound like a joke.

"Poking fun at my intelligence, are we?"

"Maybe."

I shot him a patented Ino Glare, and he just laughed. I gave him a small punch in the arm, and found myself laughing, too. Even if he wasn't whom I wanted to see, Choji could pick my spirits up easily.

We started talking about the weather, which led to why I hated snow.

"Ino, you used to like in Kumogakure. They live to suffer the elements."

"But not snow. It would rain, but not snow."

"Snow is just colder than rain."

"Exactly."

He could tell that I wasn't going to give up my position on hating snow. It's not easy to give up. A hate of snow just couldn't be released after one measly conversation.

"So…"

"So," I said in response. I kind of wished I hadn't let the mug in my room so I could take a sip of something while we sat here. It was rude just to get up and walk out of a room, leaving someone alone as you got your coffee. They didn't know where you were going, and even if you told them, it would still be kind of awkward just to sit in someone else's living room by yourself. In the cold. Because of the snow.

Stupid snow.

I curled up against the armrest; also wishing I had had a blanket lying around. Choji must have noticed my futile efforts to get warm, as he looked over at me with a quizzical glance.

"What, you haven't seen a girl try and stay warm before?"

"Not when she could just get up and get a blanket or something," he responded as if it was obvious.

"It would be rude to just leave you here alone for more than a minute."

"It takes you that long to find a blanket?"

"Hey, I have to dig through layers and layers of junk to find one," I stated.

He just laughed. "Look, it wouldn't be rude."

"Yes, it would," I interrupted, much to his annoyance.

"Not any more rude than making out in the living room while someone is sitting there," Choji said, referring to Sakura and Shikamaru. Or at least, I thought he was. You never know who makes out in living rooms.

"Those darn love birds. Always ruining the couches." I snapped my fingers as though I was disappointed, and he laughed.

Which made me start to laugh, as well. Hey, what can I say? Laughter is infectious.

It was at that precise moment that a knock came at the door. I quickly excused myself, foolishly thinking that Sakura had just left her key.

Aha, yeah right. Like Ms. Genius would EVER forget her key.

I pulled open the door, and came face to face with Lee. My eyes grew a little bigger than usual. I hadn't expected to see him. Not that I was doing anything wrong, it was just. Well… We had gotten in a fight recently.

He was holding flowers.

"Hey, Ino. I was just- Oh. Hey, Choji."

Crap. Shit. Shitshitshit. Damn.

A few weeks ago, I had been talking to Lee, and he so graciously pointed out that I had been spending a lot of time with Choji recently. So what? I had asked. Choji and I were friends; I had a right to spend time with him. There was no reason that I should be kept away from friends.

True, he had responded. But just because I thought we were friends doesn't mean Choji felt the same way. He didn't feel comfortable knowing that I could be hanging around with someone who could possibly ruin our relationship. Choji might try to brainwash you, he had said. He might try and convince you I was cheating, or I was going to hurt you. Yeah right, I had responded. Choji was my best friend. He would NEVER do a thing like that.

Lee had gotten angry and told me that I didn't know what I was talking about. That I was just being stupid and naïve. He told me that maybe I was spending so much time with the fatty because I liked him.

I had ended the conversation at that, fuming over what Lee had said and the fact that he had just called my best friend a fatty. Sure, Choji was overweight. But that didn't give Lee the right to use such a derogatory term. We hadn't spoken since.

I talked to Sakura that night, and she had told me that Lee was a very jealous person. She had broken up with him because he had gotten jealous that she and Naruto were going to see a movie with some friends. When she had used to defense that he hung out with Tenten a lot, Lee had just said it was a different story. According to Lee, he was trustworthy whereas Sakura had been known to cheat.

Sakura just about slapped him in his face, she had said. I could just imagine all of her pent up rage and strength making him fly through a wall or something. It had brought a smile to my face that night. Sakura said that she had gotten it over with and broke up with him. She had one piece of advice: "It's hard for jealous people to get over their jealousy, Ino." I understood it's meaning fully.

But, here Lee was. Apologizing, or at least trying too.

"Hey, Lee," I said, smiling at him.

He glanced once again at Choji, who was watching with a puzzled expression. "Can I talk to you? Outside?"

I nodded, knowing where this was going. I could feel my legs tremble as I walked, dreading what was coming next. My insides were tight, tense, waiting for him to say it.

"Ino," he said, taking my hand. Of course. He just had to try and be the nice guy. "Ino, darling, you know that I like you. I like you a lot."

I just nodded, hoping that I didn't give anything away. Hoping that I didn't start crying before anything got out of him.

"But I just don't know if this is going to work. Can I trust you, sitting in a dorm room with only that thing?" I knew what he was referring too. I was too scared and sad to make any corrections. "I know the way he looks at you. He wants you, babe, just like I did before we started going out. I've seen the glares, and I know. But if you're not going to do anything about it, well, I think that someone else should do something. If this relationship is going to continue, I need you to stop hanging with him."

"I don't need to stop hanging out with Choji just because you say so!" I yelled, wrenching my hand free. I turned to go back to my room.

"If you don't, then it's over! You can go out with him for all I care after that. Let everyone see you with him!" I spun around, angry tears streaming down my face.

"Well, then. Goodbye, Rock Lee. I'd rather be seen making out with a FROG than standing next to you." I turned on my heel, and opened the door to my room. I got hit in the arm by a bouquet of flowers. I turned to pick them up.

No need to waste a good bouquet. They were forget-me-nots, with some purple lilies interspersed. It was a cute bouquet, although I could have done better.

Choji knew something was up when I walked though the door, tears on my face.

"What's wrong, Ino?" he asked, coming over to me.

"N-N-N-N-Nothing," I tried to say, quickly wiping my tears.

"Liar," he stated, wit a semi-smile playing on his lips.

I looked up at Choji. Was there a chance that I did like him? We hung out a lot… And people had told me we would make a cute couple. Lots of people had said that. And he was always there, always making me feel better, always making sure the people that I didn't like were also put down. When I needed a hug, he was there. When I needed a friend, he was there.

"Lee broek up with me," I said, expecting the rush of sadness. It didn't come as badly as I thought it would. Huh.

"That little idiot. He doesn't know what he's missing." Choji put a reassuring arm around me. My heartbeat picked up a little bit.

"You're my friend, you're supposed to say that."

"Who cares? It's true."

I just smiled. Even if he was lying for my benefit, it made me feel good. I camled down a bit, and the tears slowly stopped. "Thanks, Choji."

"No problem, Ino."

Could I, Ino Yamanaka, Like Choji?

No! Or…

Yes?

A/N: ANOTHER AUTHORS NOTE? They ask, screaming at the top of their lungs. You should be trying to update that other story that you have that's just been sitting there! You haven't even begun hat one, they announce, rushing at her with torches lit. Scared out of her mind, Rai Lockhart runs like hell, trying to tell them things as she goes along. For a second, they stop. But then they get bored and slightly burnt from the lit torch, and rush after her again. As she waits to be burned for heresy, also known as failure to update, Rai speaks once more: I'm sooooooo sorry. I've been busy! My computer died! Lies, they scream. With a sigh, Rai starts once again: I really have been busy. And my laptop did die, with all of my writings on it. I'm going to try and finish this story, along with the other story, soon. I've even got some ideas for some other stories! How does another ShikaSaku sound? Maybe a NaruIno? I might even write some HP fanfiction (Ahaha, maybe), or some Avatar: The Last Airbender. I even have this amazing idea for an Ouran fic! How does that sound? (Seriously, would you guys like that?) They stall for a second, contemplating their answer. Will they untie her, and let her continue to write? Or will they burn her because she has left them for so long? Either way, Rai understands what's going on in their heads. If she wants to live, she must update more often. and by more often, she means soon. Clearing her throat, Rai concludes: You guys just make some comments and decide! Don't forget to tell me who those other ideas sound, and whether you'd be interesting in reading them.


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